Arrago flushed. “Oh. I remember those days.”
“I don’t think you’ve grown out of them,” Bethany mumbled under her breath, and felt the rush of heat to her face when Arrago cocked an eyebrow at her. “Elorians get it earlier than full-bloods. Usually in their eighties.”
“Ah, that explains it, then.”
Jay coughed and struggled to sit up.
“Easy,” Bethany said, gently pressing her hand against the man’s dark chest. She piled the blanket on him that Arrago passed her. “Easy now.”
“Lady—Lady,” Jay said between coughs.
“Jay, rest for a few moments. Warm up. You can tell us everything then,” Arrago said.
Jay shook his head. He licked his cracked lips, blood crusted on the edges. Bethany winced. She had sheep liniment in her duffle. She’d get it for him once he settled down. “Three days ago...saw the army.”
Bethany sat up. “Daniel’s?”
Jay nodded. He audibly gulped as though the few words had stripped his throat of moisture. “The dogs and I...barely slept.”
Bethany gave Arrago a concerned look. “Three days for him would take what? Two weeks?”
Arrago shrugged. “Maybe a bit less. Depends.”
“Lots of dogs and logging horses.” Jay coughed again. Where in Apexia’s name was that healer?
“Are you sure they’re coming here?” Arrago asked.
Jay nodded, his eyes drooping. “At least fifteen thousand. Maybe twenty.”
Oh shit.
“Rest,” Bethany ordered.
“My dogs—”
She pressed a hand against his shoulder. “The dogs are safe. They’ll be looked after. You have my word.”
Jay fell silent, slipping into the motionless sleep of the truly exhausted.
“A week,” Bethany whispered. “I did not expect him to attack until the snow melts.”
“Daniel probably thinks attacking now is to his advantage. Most of your people are elves or elorians. Everyone knows elves can’t handle the cold.”
Bethany pushed herself to her feet. “All right. Erem? Get Jovan, Eve, Kiner, Her Grace, Jon Black Crow, everyone. Top priority is to make sure the town is fortified. We need the civilians behind the walls and we need pickets out.”
Erem nodded. “I’ll assemble everyone.”
Arrago looked at Bethany. “So this is it?”
Bethany stared at the crumpled man on the floor. She’d come to destroy a country, but somewhere along the way had lost her hatred for it. Now, her concern was for the civilians under her protection, and for ensuring her soldiers had the best chance of winning.
And not just hers. Arrago’s farmers, too.
She looked at her former lover. No, he was still her lover. He would always be her lover. No matter if he married, forgot her, and died. He would always be the only one she’d share her love with. She’d go anywhere to protect him.
“Bethany?”
She blew out a breath and gave him a small smile. “This is where we honor Sir Eli’s sacrifice by killing every Magi-lover Daniel throws at us.”
Chapter Thirty-One
The Viper will come. The darkness will smother.
-Aleu’s “The Agony of the Diamond”
Bethany marched through the streets, surveying the work that still needed to be done. Beside her walked Arrago, who refused to walk behind her. Behind her were Jovan, Eve, Kiner, and Erem, with another six scribes making notes.
Several more Knights and soldiers surrounded them, led by Jackson, issuing immediate orders and keeping the senior Knights safe.
“Daniel has fifteen to twenty thousand. What is our count?” Bethany asked, looking over her shoulder at her unofficial aide, assigned by Jon Black Crow.
The aide was a tall, sparse man, with thick, wiry black hair, pale-as-snow skin, and sunken cheeks. He looked down at the papers on his portable desk that hung around his neck and rested against his torso. He released the clamp on the edge of the papers, enough to flip through his notes without them flying off. “Twelve thousand within two days ride in good weather.”
Jovan whistled and Bethany spat. “They have almost double our number.”
Bethany pressed the heel of her palm against her forehead. “How many abled-body men do we have in the baggage?”
“Miss Amber estimates two thousand or so,” he answered.
“All right, Jackson, you will be in charge of the rear guard. I’ll need—”
“I won’t be in the fight?”
Bethany stopped, and there was a shuffle of feet as everyone tried to avoid bumping into one another. “There are a lot of innocent people here who will be slaughtered if Daniel’s men break through. I can’t get everyone inside the shield wall.” She looked at Jon Black Crow and said, “I have to leave about three thousand people outside the main barricades. I need someone to look after them. The best I can do is move them behind the town, where the trees and the river can help protect them.”
Jackson blew out a breath. “Of course, I’ll look after them.”
“Erem, select five Knights you trust to lead this kind of duty with Jackson. Take a hundred soldiers.”
Erem’s aide scratched notes down, while Erem stared at Bethany. “A hundred? To protect three thousand?”
“Jackson, it’s your job to make sure every person fit to fight in the baggage is armed. Wood axes, kitchen knives, daggers, wooden poles. I don’t want a single person without something to protect themselves, do you understand?”
“Yes, Lady Bethany.”
“Get the children and old people into three clusters, then—”
“I know standard elven formation. I’ll see to it,” Jackson said, confidence in his voice.
Bethany gave him a grin. “When this is over, I’m making you an apprentice Knight.”
Jackson snorted. “Thank Apexia I can’t read then. Us illiterates aren’t allowed in.”
“I’ll teach you,” Kiner said and a round of chuckles went up from the group, but they died away quickly.
They walked past a dozen sharpening wheels, metal clanging as swords sharpened, armor mended, and knives were prepared. She pointed at the wizened local man and said, “You! Blacksmith.”
The grey-haired man stood and bowed. “Lady Bethany.”
“How are repairs?”
“We’ll have all blades for the Knights sharpened in two days. We’ve made a hundred more spears, but we’re almost out of metal.”
Bethany nodded and said, “Get some of your boys to make wooden spears to make a third spear wall around the exterior. If you need help, speak to Jackson,” she pointed at him, “and he’ll get you help from the baggage.”
“Yes, Lady Bethany. When do you need them by?”
“Roc?”
The aide looked up and said, “The earliest Daniel’s full force will arrive is three mornings from now.”
“Tomorrow night,” Bethany said. “We need to be ready for an advanced attack.”
The blacksmith nodded and began barking orders to the young boys around him.
They circled back around toward the village. “Eve, get top archers in every single window and spread along the tree line. From this point forward, full coverage. Have relief sleep on the floor next to the archers, in case of attack. See how the roofs hold up. Might be able to get some up there, too.”
“Done.”
“Arrago, I need your archers in front of the buildings, but behind your spears.”
“Why can’t mine go in the buildings?”
“Yours aren’t crack shots,” she said.
Arrago grunted in annoyance, but remained silent.
“Your Grace, please organize the women. I need every single cloak, blanket, quilt, and roll of fabric that exists in this town. It’s going to be cold standing around and we’re going to need extra clothing.”
“Of course, Lady Bethany,” Lady Celeste said with a delicate incline of her head. “Would you like me to get the townspeople into the cella
rs?”
Bethany thought for a moment and said, “Yes, please. That would help.”
Jon Black Crow interrupted, “Actually, Your Grace, would you mind bringing the very young from the baggage into the town? Our women will look after them.”
Bethany looked over her shoulder at him. “There isn’t enough room for your own people, let alone more children.”
“No man worth his meat will sit in a cellar while women defend our home for us.”
“Your people will die,” Bethany said quietly.
“They will die defending their home against a tyrant. Daniel’s not coming to liberate us. He’ll burn the village to the ground to get to Arrago. Best we don’t let him do that.”
“Jon is correct, Lady Bethany. My cousin is a coward.”
“Wouldn’t that mean he should be hiding in some castle?” Arrago asked.
Celeste looked at Arrago and said, “It means he will behave as a bully. He will only attack if he thinks he can win, and will win by any costs. He will make an example of us and will kill everyone here to put all of your necks on pikes.”
“And yours, Your Grace,” Arrago said with an incline of his head.
Celeste raised her chin. “I am the confirmed legitimate daughter of a Prince. I am of royal blood and untainted by scandal. I came to here to help the poor, was kidnapped by your band of peasant folk, and have been under house arrest by the elves.” She narrowed her eyes and said, “My head will not be gracing the pikes.”
A snort escaped Bethany. “All right, Her Grace will not be on pikes, but I think we all agree that surrender is not an option for non-humans.”
“No,” Celeste said firmly, without a hint of hesitation. “Perhaps not for the humans, either.”
Sled dogs barked in the distance. Metal scraped against sharpening stones. Men shouted at each other in various languages and various accents. Fire billowed around them. Light snow fell.
“No, I suppose surrender isn’t an option.”
****
“I want to stay and fight,” Lendra protested.
Amber gave Lendra an amused look and said, “Lendra, you aren’t a soldier.”
“But everyone else is out fighting and I’m stuck here hiding.”
“Miss Lendra,” Erem said, his voice stern, “your sister wants you safe. She has already lost too many sisters.”
Lendra gave Erem a dirty look and Amber laughed. She pulled the blanket over Lendra and stirred the tiny fire in their cellar hideout. “How long will you be with us, Erem?”
“‘Til morning. After that, the rest of us have to prepare. Daniel’s army could arrive anytime.”
Fear sloshed around in Amber’s guts. “I thought his army was a week away.”
“Bethany estimates a forced march could get his troops here by tomorrow evening. So, she wants us to be ready for him.”
“Are we?” Lendra asked, her voice small. “I mean, are we ready for him? I heard he has a hundred thousand men!”
Erem snorted. “No, not that many.”
Amber looked at him, sensing Erem was omitting the truth. “How many does he have?”
“No way to tell,” Erem said with a nonchalant shrug.
“Erem, you are a terrible liar,” Amber said.
Erem gave her a sly grin. “I’m a great liar! It’s you that’s rattling around in my brain where you shouldn’t be.”
Amber shot him a look. “I don’t need to get inside your head. You always shrug your left shoulder when you lie.”
“No, I don’t.”
Lendra nodded. “It’s true, you do.”
“Who told you that?” Erem demanded.
“Jovan,” both women said in unison.
Erem scowled and said, “Now I know how that lowlife whore has been winning at cards.” He turned quiet and said, “I can’t say the exact number, but we’re a little under-matched. It isn’t too bad, though. It is nothing to worry about.”
“But they have Magic,” Lendra said.
Erem smiled at her. “And we have Blessed Blades that cut through Magic.”
Amber stared at him until his smile faded. He glanced at Lendra and gave Amber a pleading look. “Lendra, it’s important that we have faith in Bethany. She doesn’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why you’re down here, surrounded by over fifty Knights and another hundred regulars. Even if they catch the stable on fire upstairs, we are so far down that it won’t hurt us. And it’s warmer down here than up there.”
“Just keep the fire low so you don’t choke on the smoke and it will be fine,” Erem added.
“I just wish I could fight,” Lendra said, her face sullen. “No one ever lets me do anything. I wasn’t allowed to join the Knights, or the Wyllow guard. I always had to look after Drea. Now that she’s gone,” her voice hitched in her throat, “Bethany won’t even let me out of her sight unless I’m surrounded by guards.”
“She’s just worried about you,” Amber said and ran her hand along her belly. A small grin tugged her mouth. She’d not told anyone about the creature growing inside her, whose thoughts were of sleep, stretching, and more sleep. Allric’s child. Their child. After the battle, once it was over, she would tell Bethany. Right now, she needed to stay calm so that she kept the little creature inside her womb.
“I hate being the baby,” Lendra said pouting. “I wish I could be the protector sometimes, too, you know.”
Amber smiled at her. “When this is over, I’ll talk to Bethany. Maybe she will let you do a few more things.”
“Bethany won’t be able to focus on what’s coming if she’s worried about you,” Erem said.
Lendra pulled her legs up against her chest and rested her chin on her knees. “I hate feeling useless.”
Amber gave her a smile. “We all feel that way.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Many will claim to be the Elf King but only one will be blessed by the Creator Gods.
-The Prophecy of the Diamond, Second Tablet
Bethany stood on a balcony, a thin blanket of fog surrounding her from the fires and breath of those around her. Arrago stood next to her, behind the square formations of soldiers posed around the village. He was silent, though he adjusted his weight, his gear, and his cloak enough for her to know his nerves were eating him raw.
In the distance, the thump-thump-thump of the monotonous march of heavily-armed men echoed through the swathe of daylight struggling to form over the horizon. Pink, orange, and red painted only a portion of the skyline. Soon, the sun would rise and smile down on the living and the dead.
Beyond their fortifications, the forest was hacked back. Trunks formed natural spikes and barriers for the approaching troops, a long line of black ants marching beyond the horizon.
“Did you eat?” she asked Arrago.
“Not much,” he admitted. “Bread, mostly.”
She nodded. “Good. You don’t want to eat too much before a battle like this.”
He turned to her. “Why not?”
“The fear alone can give you the shits. Last thing you want is a gut full of spicy food.”
“Oh,” Arrago said, his tone turning greenish.
They went back to staring ahead. Horses snorted and dogs barked and howled around them. Beyond the animals, however, the air of the village was silent. No one spoke. No one worked.
They simply waited.
Bethany looked back and up at Eve, based on the rooftop. She was seated on the peak of the building, her feet dangling in the air. Her face was not visible through the makeshift shield wall build around the crew of snipers. She could, however, feel the heat of the burning oil pots, fuel for the archers’ fireballs if needed.
Somewhere in the western side of the town, Kiner hid in the trees with nearly their entire pack of dogsleds, and more foot and arrow than Bethany would have preferred. However, they needed to be prepared to push the enemy flanks, and also to be prepared in case Daniel’s military advice had more sense than he did.
She wou
ld have preferred to fight alongside him, but hiding and waiting was what Kiner did best. Erem held the east flank of the town with a small number that would join the main battle when needed. Daniel would have to bring his forces across a river to attack from there and Erem’s team had drilled enough holes into the ice to make crossing impossible.
Jovan stood down below in the thick of the formation, his blond hair curling outside of his helmet. He looked back at her and smiled, waved a hand with what looked like a hunk of cheese in it.
“Well, some of us get the shits from the fear,” she amended.
“Hmm? Oh, right,” Arrago gave a forced chuckle. “Shits.”
Bethany barked out a laugh. “You look terrified.”
“That would be because I am,” he said through clenched teeth. He gave her a swift smile and added, “My heart is pounding so loud that I can barely hear anything else.”
“What’s the worst that can happen to you today?”
“Um, I die?”
Bethany smiled, looking back over the soldiers and villagers around them below. “So, by nightfall, you might be with Apexia on the wind, speaking to your parents, Arragous, and Sir Eli. That doesn’t sound so bad.”
Arrago was quiet before replying, “I’d rather be alive and speaking with you.”
“Just remember, what we do in life lives on after we are gone.” She looked at him. “You’ve stood up against a man who allowed Magic to destroy people. That will echo through the ages, even if you die today.”
“Bethany,” Arrago said, his voice strained, “you’re not helping.”
She studied him. Arrago’s face was grim, almost as grey as though he already had one foot stepping into his own grave. His piecemeal armor covered nearly every visible part of his body, including even the helmet with the crooked nose bridge. He held his sword, though his shield was resting against his legs. Metal guards were strapped to his leather trousers, and mail hung below his leather tunic.
She sized him up and said, “You look like you know what you’re doing in that outfit.”
“Standing around waiting for your death is a lot harder than being ambushed and not having time to think about it.”
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